The installation of a suspended electrical fixture to an overhead support can be a difficult task for a single installer. For example, to install a conventional ceiling fan, the fan is lifted to just below the electrical junction box and held there while connecting the fan wires to the electrical supply wires. After the electrical connection is finished, the fan is lifted further to place the fan bell over the junction box and held in that position while the fan is attached to the box or a ceiling hanger in some manner, typically with screws or bolts. The combined operation takes several minutes and usually requires two persons, one to lift and hold and the other to make the wire and screw connections.
Installing a suspended electrical fixture can also pose a risk of electrical shock to the installer and/or short-circuiting the electrical supply circuit. Some installers, particularly do-it-yourself homeowners, are prone to either forget or neglect to shut off the supply of electricity to the circuit they are installing the fixture in. Most conventional fixtures have bare-ended wires meant to be spliced to supply wires located in an overhead junction box. An installer who fails to shut off the electricity and splices live wires is destined to receive an electrical shock. Even if the fixture were supplied with a conventional electrical plug, an installer could get an electrical shock by touching one of the plug's prongs when the plug is partially inserted into a live receptacle. If the installer were to touch two of the partially inserted prongs simultaneously with a finger, tool or other conductive object, the supply circuit would also be short-circuited.
Some electrical fixture installations are subject to water infiltration, particularly those having junction boxes mounted in a ceiling adjacent a leaking roof, adjacent the underside of a roof on which condensation forms, under a bathroom or other area having leaking plumbing or the like. The infiltrating water can cause an electrical short, which could start a fire.